System and Method For a Self-Referencing Interferometer

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are described herein for a self-referencing interferometer. The interferometer can comprise an improved spatial phase shifter that reduces the number of components, size and complexity of the spatial phase shifter and maintains a common path for a combined reference beam and signal beam. The self-referencing interferometer further comprises a single mode fiber shunt for filtering the reference beam and further reducing the size of the interferometer. The angle of the reference beam can be tilted before being recombined with the single beam which further simplifies the spatial phase shifting component of the interferometer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/839,520, filed Jul. 20, 2010, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASELF-REFERENCING INTERFEROMTER,” which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of interferometersand more particularly to a self-referencing interferometer that usesspatial phase shifting to reconstruct optical wave fronts.

2. Description of the Related Art

Phase shifting interferometers used in directed energy or lasercommunications applications typically consist of a light source that issplit into two beams—a reference beam and a signal beam. The two lightbeams travel different paths, the reference beam is spatially filtered,and then the beams are recombined in such a way that the wave front ofthe signal beam can be determined. Phase shifting interferometry can beused to accurately determine the phase differences between the twobeams. By spatially filtering the reference beam to create a cleanspherical wave front, the shape of the wave front of the signal beam canbe determined. The recombined beams produce an optical interferencepattern for each of the phase shifts between the reference beam and thesignal beam. Prior art interferometers typically use a combination ofprisms and wave plates to split optical beams and recombine the beamswith different relative phase shifts. The limitations with prior artinterferometers are that they can be large in size and can weigh severalpounds or more, limiting their implementation. There are a number oftechnical limitations with prior art interferometers as well.

For example, existing interferometers must be designed to addressnon-common path aberrations. When a signal beam and a reference beam donot travel the same path within the interferometer, the two beams may besubject to aberrations that are not common to the paths of each beam.Since the interferometer measures the phase differences between the twobeams, non-common path aberrations distort the desired measurement.Designing an interferometer to correct for these aberrations adds to thecomplexity of the interferometer.

As another example, it is not unusual for an interferometer to includenumerous wave plates and prisms, each of which typically comprises twooptical surfaces. Even with high quality components, as the number ofoptical surfaces increases, the optical throughput of the interferometerdecreases and any non-common path aberrations increase. For example,FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a prior art spatial phase shifting assemblyfor use with an interferometer. FIG. 1A shows a prototype spatial phaseshifting assembly 110 and FIG. 1B shows an isometric cross-sectionalview of the same spatial phase shifting assembly 120. FIG. 1B shows twoseparate input light beams 125, comprising a reference beam and a signalbeam, entering the spatial phase shifting assembly. The reference beamand signal beam pass through a series of prisms and wave plates thatsplit the beams and combine them into four separate beam pairs, eachpair with a different relative phase shift between the reference beamand the signal beam. FIG. 1B shows the four beam pairs 130, each paircomprising a reference beam and a signal beam, exiting the spatial phaseshifting assembly 120. A conventional spatial phase shifting assembly,such as the one shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B can comprise 30 or more prismsand wave plates totaling 60 or more optical surfaces. The numerousoptical surfaces limit the optical throughput of the spatial phaseshifting assembly and worsen the problem of non-common path aberrations.Furthermore, having numerous custom optical elements and a custommounting assembly in a conventional spatial phase shifting assemblygreatly increases the cost of the assembly.

The weight and size of conventional spatial phase shifting assembliesalso limits prior art interferometers. For example, the spatial phaseshifting assembly shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B typically weightsapproximately three pounds and is five inches in length. The length ofthe spatial phase shifting assembly affects the focal lengths of thelenses used in the optical relays of the wave front sensor component inan interferometer. Accordingly, the weight and size of conventionalspatial phase shifting assemblies limits how interferometers can beimplemented and in which applications they can be used.

Another limitation in conventional interferometers is the length of thesingle mode fiber through which the reference beam passes. Conventionalinterferometers typically use a single mode reference fiber to spatiallyfilter the reference beam. In a typical interferometer, the referencefiber is approximately eight inches in length. However, optical pathmatching is required to maintain coherence between the signal beam andthe reference beam and ensure measurable contrast in the interferenceimages. Due to the refractive index of the reference fiber, the lengthof the reference fiber requires approximately twelve inches of matchingoptical path and associated optical elements to be added to the signalpath. The additional elements increase the weight and size of theinterferometer.

Finally, the polarization requirements of a conventional interferometerusing a spatial phase shifting assembly such as the one illustrated inFIGS. 1A and 1B further limit implementation of conventionalinterferometers for directed energy and laser communicationsapplications. For example, the spatial phase shifting assembly in FIGS.1A and 1B uses polarization to create the four beam pairs which producethe four interference images. The wave front sensor that measures theinterference images requires fixed polarizations for the signal beam andreference beam at its input aperture. Furthermore, the length of thereference fiber creates a greater probability that mechanical andthermal disturbances can alter the polarization of the reference beamand reduce the measurement accuracy of the interferometer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Summary of the Problem

There is a need for an improved spatial phase shifting interferometerthat can be more easily used in directed energy and laser communicationsapplications. In other words, a need exists for a smaller and lesscomplex interferometer for directed energy and laser communicationsapplications. Furthermore, an improved spatial phase shiftinginterferometer can have other applications, such as use in various typesof optical testing.

Summary of the Solution

The embodiments of the present invention provide for an improvedinterferometer. The embodiments of the present invention improve uponprior art interferometers by reducing the size and complexity of thecomponents of the interferometer.

In a first exemplary embodiment, the interferometer comprises animproved spatial phase shifting assembly. The improved spatial phaseshifting assembly comprises a first interface that divides a signal beaminto two components and divides a reference beam into two components.The first interface combines a first component of the signal beam with afirst component of the reference beam producing a first beam pair andcombines a second component of the signal beam with a second componentof the reference beam producing a second beam pair. The first beam pairexits the first interface and passes through a half wave plate. Thesecond beam pair exits the first interface and passes through a halfwave plate, a quarter wave plate, and an optical component to adjust thealignment and conjugate image location of the beam path. A secondinterface divides the first and second beam pairs again so that fourbeam pairs exit the second interface. Each of the four beam pairscomprises a combination of a signal beam component and a reference beamcomponent. Two of the four beam pairs pass through an optical componentto adjust the alignment and conjugate image location of the beam path.The reference beam component and signal beam component of each paircombine to produce an interference pattern. The interference pattern isdetected when each beam pair reaches a wave front sensor camera. Each ofthe four beam pairs also has a different, known relative phase shiftbetween the signal component and the reference component. The wave frontsensor processor uses the interference patterns created by the phasedifferences for each of the four beam pairs to identify any aberrationsin the signal beam. The identified aberrations can be used in anadaptive optics system to control a spatial light modulator to correctthe aberrations in the signal beam and improve beam quality.

In a second exemplary embodiment, a self-referencing interferometer usesan improved method to process an input signal. The method comprisesreceiving the input beam at the interferometer and splitting the inputbeam into a signal beam and a reference beam. The reference beam istransmitted through a single mode fiber shunt to remove aberrations inthe reference beam. The reference beam and the signal beam arerecombined by an optical component so that there is a defined relativetilt between the signal beam and reference beam. The recombined signalbeam and reference beam are transmitted through an anamorphic opticalrelay, such as a crossed cylindrical lens relay, and to a wave frontsensor camera. The wave front sensor processor analyzes the interferencepattern produced by the recombined signal beam and reference beam inorder to identify any aberrations in the signal beam. Identifiedaberrations can be used in an adaptive optics system to control aspatial light modulator to correct the aberrations in the signal beamand improve beam quality.

In a third exemplary embodiment, an improved self-referencinginterferometer can identify and correct aberrations in a signal beam.The interferometer comprises a telescope for receiving an input beam.The beam is optically relayed to a fast steering mirror which aligns thebeam with the optical axis of the system. The beam is optically relayedto a deformable mirror, or other spatial light modulator device, whichis used to correct the phase aberrations in the input beam after theyare identified by the wave front sensor. The beam is optically relayedto the input of the wave front sensor where a beam splitter divides theinput beam into a signal beam and a reference beam. The reference beamis transmitted through and spatially filtered by a single mode fibershunt. A combining prism receives the signal beam and the filteredreference beam and combines the two beams so that the two beams are at aspecified angle relative to each other. An anamorphic optical relay,such as a crossed cylindrical lens relay, distorts the recombined signalbeam and reference beam along an axis that is parallel to the axis inwhich the signal beam and the reference beam lie before they arecombined. A lens images the recombined signal beam and reference beam ona wave front sensor camera. The wave front sensor processor comprisessoftware executing on a computing device that can analyze theinterference pattern produced by the recombined signal beam andreference beam and identify aberrations in the signal beam. Onceidentified, the software can correct the aberrations in the signal beamby adjusting the shape of the surface of the deformable mirror.

These and other embodiments are described in the detailed descriptionthat follows and the associated drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated byway of example and are not limited to the following figures:

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a prior art spatial phase shifting assembliesfor use in an interferometer.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate spatial phase shifters for use in aninterferometer in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a self-referencing interferometer with a spatialphase shifter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a tilted self-referencing interferometer inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process for performing two discrete Fouriertransforms on data received at a wave front sensor to determine wavefront aberrations on the input signal beam in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates asymmetric sampling of the image received at the wavefront sensor in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a tilted self-referencing interferometer inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a tilted self-referencing interferometer adaptiveoptics system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The invention is directed to components and methods for improvedinterferometers. Although the exemplary embodiments of the improvedinterferometers will be described in the following text and theassociated figures, those skilled in the art will recognize that theexemplary embodiments can be modified in various ways within the scopeof the invention. For example, the exemplary embodiments describedherein include certain conventional components such as lenses andmirrors. Those of skill in the art will recognize that various differenttypes of lenses and mirrors can be substituted for the conventionalcomponents described herein. Those of skill in the art also willrecognize that the configuration of the conventional lenses and mirrorsdescribed herein can be modified within the scope of the invention.

Turning to FIG. 2A, an exemplary embodiment of a miniature spatial phaseshifter 200 is illustrated. The miniature spatial phase shifter 200improves upon several of the limitations identified with prior artinterferometers identified above. For example, the miniature spatialphase shifter 200 reduces non-common path aberrations in that the signalbeam and the reference beam travel almost identical paths. The miniaturespatial phase shifter 200 also reduces the number of optical componentsas compared to prior art interferometers. Reducing the number ofrequired optical components has several benefits including smaller size,weight and cost for the device and improved optical throughput.

The miniature spatial phase shifter 200 receives a signal beam 210 and areference beam 205 as both beams enter beam splitter component 212.Typically, at least the reference beam 205 is collimated when it entersthe beam splitter component 212. The signal beam 205 may not becollimated due to aberrations in the beam. Beam splitter component 212comprises a 50:50 non-polarizing cube beam splitter and a right angleprism with a reflective coating on its hypotenuse, both of which arecommercially available devices. In alternate embodiments of theinvention, the beam splitter component 212 could be replaced with aplate beam splitter and a mirror. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG.2A, the reference beam 205 is linearly polarized in the verticaldirection (s-polarization) and the signal beam is linearly polarized inthe horizontal direction (p-polarization) so that the polarizations ofthe beams are orthogonal. The reference beam 205 enters the beamsplitter from the bottom of the beam splitter and is split into twocomponents. Similarly, the signal beam 210 enters the beam splitter fromthe left-hand side and is split into two components. In alternateembodiments of the invention using a non-polarizing beam splitter, thetwo beams can be recombined before entering the beam splitter and enterthe beam splitter at the same face. The beam splitter component 212combines the components of the signal beam 210 with the components ofthe reference beam 205 to produce combined beams 235 and 240. Once thecomponents of the reference beam 205 and the signal beam 210 arecombined into combined beams 235 and 240, each beam pair will travel thesame path, thus reducing the problems associated with non-common pathaberrations which cause unwanted differences between the signal beam andthe reference beam. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2A,the beam splitter 212 is a non-polarizing beam splitter made fromcommercially available components. Those of skill in the art willrecognize that component 212 can be replaced with a polarizing beamsplitter and the input polarizations can be rotated appropriately toproduce a 50:50 beam split. Also, the orientation of the inputpolarizations can be different as long as they are orthogonal, althoughif the polarizations are non-linear, additional components would berequired. Further, the input directions of the signal beam and referencebeam can be altered. For instance, the two beams can enter the beamsplitter at the same face.

Combined beams 235 and 240 pass through half wave plates 215 and 220which rotate the polarization of the combined beam pairs 235 and 240 sothat the signal beam components of the combined beam pairs are at +45°relative to the horizontal axis and the reference beam components of thecombined beam pairs are at −45° relative to the horizontal axis. Inalternate embodiments of the invention, half wave plates 215 and 220 canbe replaced by a single half wave plate which spans both beam pairs 235and 240 or by other types of wave plates which rotate the polarizationof the combined beams 235 and 240 to the same end state. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 2A, combined beam 235 also passes throughquarter wave plate 225 which has its fast axis aligned with thepolarization of either the signal beam component of combined beam 235 orthe reference beam components (+45° or −45° relative to the horizontalaxis, respectively) in order to provide an additional relative quarterwave phase shift (λ/4 or π/2 radians, where λ is the wavelength of theinput beam) between the wave fronts of the signal beam component and thereference beam component within the combined beam pair. Combined beam235 can also pass through pupil pusher 230. The pupil pusher 230 is aplane parallel window or similar optical component that can be tippedand tilted to transversely align the combined beam 235 with combinedbeam 240 at the wave front sensor camera and whose optical thickness isset to adjust the conjugate plane imaging of combined beam 235 to matchthe same conjugate image plane location as combined beam 240. Inalternate embodiments of the invention, the quarter wave plate can beplaced in the path of either combined beam 235 or combined beam 240.Also, the ordering of the half wave plate, quarter wave plate, and pupilpusher in the path of combined beam 235 in FIG. 2A is arbitrary suchthat these components can be in any order.

Combined beams 235 and 240 then pass through a second beam splittercomponent 245. The second beam splitter component 245 comprises fourpolarizing cube beam splitter components that are capable of splittingand reflecting beams of light. The beam splitter components thatcomprise beam splitter component 245 are commercially available devices.In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2A, beam splitter component 245 isa polarizing material that separates the horizontal and verticalpolarization components of combined beams 235 and 240. In alternateembodiments of the invention, beam splitter component 245 could beimplemented using polarizing beam splitting plates. Beam splittercomponent 245 further divides the polarization components of combinedbeams 235 and 240 producing additional combined beams 260 and 265. Withproper orientation of the polarizations of combined beams 235 and 240 atthe input to beam splitter component 245, as described above, beamsplitter component 245 separates the reference beam component and signalbeam component of combined beams 235 and 240 into equal power beams withorthogonal polarizations so that all four output combined beams 235,240, 260, and 265 nominally have equal power. The polarization splittingof the combined beams 235 and 240 produces an additional relative halfwave phase shift (λ/2 or π radians) between the wave fronts of thesignal beam component and the reference beam component within both ofthe transmitted combined beam pairs 235 and 240. In contrast, noadditional relative phase shift is produced in the transmitted combinedbeam pairs 260 and 265.

Combined beam pairs 235, 240, 260 and 265 exit the second beam splittercomponent 245 and each combined beam has a different relative phaseshift between the wave fronts of the signal beam component and thereference beam component within each combined beam pair. Combined beams260 and 265 can also pass through pupil pushers 250 and 255. The pupilpushers are plane parallel windows or similar optical components thatcan be tipped and tilted to transversely align the combined beams 260and 265 with combined beam 240 at the wave front sensor camera and whoseoptical thicknesses are set to adjust the conjugate plane imaging ofcombined beams 260 and 265 to match the same conjugate image planelocation as combined beam 240. Combined beams 235, 240, 260 and 265produce interference patterns 270, 272, 274 and 276 which can beprocessed with standard four-bin phase shifting interferometer phasereconstruction techniques to determine the amplitude of the signal beam210 and the phase differences between the reference beam 205 and thesignal beam 210. The interference patterns shown in FIG. 2A are merelyrepresentative examples.

Referencing FIG. 2B, an isometric drawing of an exemplary miniaturespatial phase shifter 280 is shown. Miniature spatial phase shifter 280illustrates the compact form which the present invention can take. Incontrast to the prior art spatial phase shifting assembly shown in FIGS.1A and 1B, the miniature spatial phase shifter 280 shown in FIG. 2B hasapproximate dimensions of 2″×2″×1.5″. Miniature spatial phase shifter280 shows from a different view many of the components discussed inconnection with exemplary FIG. 2A. An exemplary prism and beam splitter282 receive a reference beam and signal beam, which are split andrecombined into two beam pairs. The beam pairs pass through a pupilpusher 284 and wave plates 286 and 288. As explained in connection withFIG. 2A, one beam pair will pass through a half wave plate, a quarterwave plate, and the pupil pusher, whereas the other beam pair will passthrough only a half wave plate. Next, the two beam pairs pass through asecond set of beam splitters 290 producing four beam pairs, each pairwith a different relative phase shift between its signal beam componentand its reference beam component. Two of the beam pairs then passthrough pupil pushers 292. The four beam pairs then exit miniaturespatial phase shifter 280 and are detected by a wave front sensor camera(not shown).

Referring to FIG. 3, a self-referencing interferometer 300 isillustrated in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.In the self-referencing interferometer 300 illustrated in FIG. 3, aninput beam 305 is received by interferometer 300 and the polarizing beamsplitter 310 splits the input beam 305 into a reference beam 320 and asignal beam 325. Although not required, in the preferred embodiment, theinput beam 305 is collimated. The signal beam 325 travels along signalpath 326, reflecting off mirror 312 and passing through path matchingprism 327 before reaching the miniature spatial phase shifting apparatus330. The path matching prism 327 adjusts the signal beam path 326 sothat signal beam 325 travels the same optical distance as the referencebeam 320 after the two beams are split at beam splitter 310 until theyare recombined at the miniature spatial phase shifter 330 to ensurecoherence of the two beams at the wave front sensor (“WFS”) camera 345.The path matching prism 327 also can be tipped and tilted totransversely align the signal beam at the wave front sensor camera. Thesignal beam alignment on the wave front sensor camera can be initiallyset and path matching prism 327 firmly locked down. Conversely, the tipand tilt of the path matching prism 327 can be adjusted dynamically,using feedback from the wave front sensor processing, to autonomouslymaintain alignment of the signal beam on the wave front sensor camera.

The reference beam 320 travels along reference leg 321, passing throughfiber shunt 322 which has an aspheric lens on either end in theexemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 3. The aspheric lenses areconventional lenses used to couple the reference beam into the fibershunt 322 and to recollimate the reference beam after it exits the fibershunt 322. The fiber shunt 322 is a single mode fiber that performsspatial filtering of the reference beam 320. The fiber shunt 322attenuates aberrations in the reference beam 320 so that theinterferometer can use the reference beam 320 for comparison against thesignal beam 325. Before passing through the fiber shunt 322, thereference beam contains the same aberrations that are present in thesignal beam. In the preferred embodiment, the fiber shunt 322 is a pieceof single mode fiber approximately 10-20 mm in length that is polishedat each end. The short length of the fiber shunt simplifies the hardwareneeded to match the path of the reference beam 320 and the signal beam325. In contrast, the length of the reference fiber used withconventional spatial phase shifters, such as those illustrated in FIGS.1A and 1B, is typically approximately 8 inches in length. Therefore,because the refractive index of glass is approximately 1.5, the 8 inchesof reference fiber require approximately 12 inches of matching opticalpath and associated relay optical elements for the path on which thesignal beam travels. Because the much shorter fiber shunt cansufficiently attenuate aberrations from the reference beam 320 for theinterferometer 300, it greatly reduces the size and complexity of theinterferometer.

In the preferred embodiment, the fiber shunt 322 is embedded in aceramic ferrule, which provides a rigid, straight, low stress mechanicalenvironment for the single mode fiber making it less sensitive todisturbances from vibrations so that the polarization state of thereference beam 320 is maintained. In alternate embodiments, othermaterials can be used in place of the ceramic ferrule including flexiblefiber structures. However, flexible fiber structures are not aseffective as the rigid ceramic ferrule. Furthermore, while not requiredfor operation of the interferometer 300, the fiber shunt 322 providesanother improvement. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that apin hole filter could be used in place of the fiber shunt 322 toattenuate the aberrations in the reference beam. However, a pin holegenerally does not work as well as the fiber shunt 322 at attenuatingaberrations while also providing good optical throughput.

Several different approaches can be implemented for optically couplingthe reference beam 320 into the fiber shunt 322. In one example, thefiber can be accurately positioned at the focus of the aspheric inputlens. This position is where the fiber output should be placed relativeto the output aspheric lens in order to produce a good collimated outputbeam. However, the input can be altered by defocusing the fiber tip toslightly spoil the coupling to help improve coupling efficiency when theaberrations on the input signal beam are large.

After the reference beam 320 exits the fiber shunt 322 and passesthrough the second aspherical lens, it is reflected by mirror 324 andenters the miniature spatial phase shifter 330. As described in greaterdetail in connection with FIG. 2, at the miniature spatial phase shifter330, the reference beam 320 and the signal beam 325 are combined andsplit into four beam pairs, each of which comprises a component of thereference beam 320 and a component of the signal beam 325 and each ofwhich has a different relative phase shift between the reference beamcomponent and the signal beam component. The four combined beams thatexit the miniature spatial phase shifter 330 each produce a differentinterference pattern due to the different relative phase shifts. Thefour beams exit the miniature spatial phase shifter 330 and pass throughrelay lenses 335 and 340 before being detected by wave front sensorcamera 345. The wave front sensor processor, not shown in the figure,analyzes the interference patterns produced by the four beams anddetermines the aberration in the signal beam 325.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that certain modifications canbe made to the exemplary interferometer 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 withinthe scope of the invention. For example, a variety of different lenses,mirrors and beam splitters can be used in connection with theconventional components illustrated in FIG. 3. Furthermore, thearrangement of the components in the miniature spatial phase shifter 330can be modified. In another embodiment the components of miniaturespatial phase shifter 330 can be arranged so that the four beams exit ina two by two formation instead of a one by four orientation.Additionally, beam splitter 310 can be polarizing or non-polarizing. Ifpolarizing, the split ratio between the signal and reference beams canbe adjusted with a half wave plate before the beam splitter. Ifnon-polarizing, the split ratio can be adjusted with a variableintensity plate beam splitter. Half wave plates also may be used toadjust the polarizations of the signal and reference beams for inputinto the miniature spatial phase shifter. Optical relay lenses 335 and340 are representative, indicating a relay producing propermagnification at the wave front sensor camera. This relay can be done inany number of ways, with more or fewer lenses.

Turning to FIG. 4, another embodiment of an improved self-referencinginterferometer is illustrated. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary tiltedself-referencing interferometer 400. The interferometer 400 is distinctfrom the interferometer 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 in that interferometer400 does not require that the input beam have a fixed or definedpolarization. As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the reference beam and signalbeam used in FIGS. 2A and 3 had fixed polarizations that wereorthogonal. In contrast, interferometer 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 doesnot rely upon a fixed input polarization. FIG. 4 is a simplifiedillustration of the tilted self-referencing interferometer 400. Moredetailed illustrations of a tilted self-referencing interferometer areset forth in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The tilted self-referencing interferometer 400 illustrated in FIG. 4operates by receiving an input beam 405 and splitting that input beaminto reference beam 410 and signal beam 412. In the preferredembodiment, the input beam 405 is collimated. The reference beam 410 isfiltered by the single mode reference fiber 415. The signal beam 412passes through lens 420 and then is recombined with reference beam 410at the focal plane of lens 420. The fiber reference output also isplaced in the focal plane of lens 420 but is offset a defined amountfrom the signal beam focal spot. The combined signal beam 412 andreference beam 410 are re-collimated by lens 425 and the combined beamis detected at wave front sensor camera 440. By offsetting the referencefiber output relative to the signal beam focal spot location, the signalbeam and reference beam will have a defined angle between them at thewave front sensor camera. The focal lengths and positions of lenses 420and 425 are established so as to image the signal beam at a desiredconjugate plane with a desired magnification.

The tilted self-referencing interferometer 400 is simpler thanself-referencing interferometer 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 becauseinstead of four interference images, only one interference image isneeded at the wave front sensor 440. The spatial phase shifting of thecombined signal beam 412 and reference beam 410 is performed in aninterleaved fashion by combining the signal beam 412 and the referencebeam 410 with a relative tilt between them. Because only a singlecombined image is needed and not four separate images as withinterferometer 300, the architecture of the spatial phase shifter ininterferometer 400 can be simpler. For example, the extra beamsplitters, wave plates, and pupil pusher components needed ininterferometer 300 to separate, align and properly image the fourseparate beams onto the wave front sensor camera are not necessary withthe tilted self-referencing interferometer 400.

The following description explains different options for selecting theangle of the tilt between the signal beam 412 and the reference beam410. To reconstruct the signal wave front at a resolution of N×N, thenominal tilt between the signal beam 412 and reference beam 410 shouldbe set at (3N/2)(λ/D), where λ is the wavelength and D is the pupildiameter. This tilt will nominally produce 3N/2 fringes across the wavefront sensor image. A tilt of 3N/2 will optimally separate the 0^(th)and 1^(st) spectral orders of the spatial frequency spectrum of theinterference pattern (described below) without loss of the desiredresolution information.

Sampling requirements at the camera require 4 camera pixels perinterference fringe, or 6N pixels across the pupil, although this levelof sampling is only required in the direction of the relative tiltbetween the signal beam 412 and the reference beam 410. If opticalsqueezing is implemented, the sampling in the other direction is only1N. Thus, the anamorphic optical relay, which can be implemented as acrossed cylindrical lens relay as shown in FIG. 6 and discussed below,should provide a magnification ratio of 6:1 in the two directions.

In addition, a spatial filter, such as the 1-D spatial filter 707 shownin FIG. 7 and discussed below, should have a spatial frequency width ofNλ/D in the direction of the nominal tilt between the signal beam 412and the reference beam 410. The width in the other direction should notbe smaller than Nλ/D, although it can be bigger. Spectral informationoutside the range Nλ/D is not useful because the corresponding spatialfrequencies are too high to be reconstructed at the desired N×Nresolution so blocking this information with a spatial filter will notdegrade the performance of the wave front sensor. The 1-D spatial filterwill then ensure that the 0^(th) and 1^(st) spectral order componentscalculated with the first discrete Fourier transform in the wave frontreconstruction process described below do not overlap and are fullyseparated. The wave front sensor may still work without the 1-D spatialfilter but the higher frequency information in the 0^(th) spectral orderwill corrupt the 1^(st) spectral order computation and thus degrade wavefront sensor performance.

With the specified (3N/2)(λ/D) tilt between the signal beam 412 and thereference beam 410, the 0^(th) order component of the spatial frequencyspectrum will be centered at the origin of the spatial frequency domainwith a width of 2Nλ/D (i.e., twice the 1-D spatial filter width) and afrequency extent of −Nλ/D<F_(x)<Nλ/D, where F_(x) denotes the spatialfrequency axis corresponding to the direction of tilt between the signalbeam 412 and the reference beam 410. The 1^(st) order component will becentered at F_(x)=(3N/2)(λ/D) with a width of Nλ/D (i.e., the width ofthe 1-D spatial filter) and an extent of Nλ/D<F_(x)<2Nλ/D. With thisconfiguration, the regions of the spatial frequency domain containingthe 0^(th) and 1^(st) spectral orders will touch, but will not overlap.

In alternate embodiments, other tilt configurations between the signalbeam 412 and the reference beam 410 can be used. For example, a tilt of(Mλ/D), where M<(3N/2), will reduce the sampling requirement at the wavefront sensor camera to 4M<6N pixels across the pupil so that fewerpixels must be read out from the wave front sensor camera and the cameracan operate at a higher frame rate. However, this configuration willproduce an overlap of the desired spatial frequency informationcontained in the 0^(th) and 1^(st) spectral order components in thespatial frequency spectrum so that the N×N wave front reconstructioncalculation is more easily corrupted. To compensate, the width of the1-D spatial filter can be reduced to ensure the 0^(th) and 1^(st)spectral order components do not overlap but then the 1-D filter willblock some of the desired spatial frequency information required toaccurately reconstruct the signal wave front at a resolution of N×N. Inthis case, the reconstructed wave front effectively has a lowerresolution than N×N since the spatial frequency content in thereconstruction is below the desired N×N resolution. In thisconfiguration, the effective reconstruction resolution would be reducedby a factor of M/(3N/2).

On the other hand, a tilt of (Mλ/D) between the signal beam 412 and thereference beam 410, where M>(3N/2), will provide more separation of the0^(th) and 1^(st) spectral order components in the spatial frequencyspectrum so that there is less chance of corruption due to overlap ofthe spectral orders. However, this amount of tilt will also increase thesampling requirement at the wave front sensor camera to 4M>6N pixelsacross the pupil so that more camera pixels must be read out from thewave front sensor camera and the camera may run at slower frame rates.There will be more spatial frequency information available for use inthe wave front reconstruction process so that the wave frontreconstruction could have a higher resolution than N×N. However, if thedesired reconstructed wave front resolution is only N×N, the extrainformation is not needed.

In summary, if a true, full-quality N×N reconstruction is desired, theoptimal tilt between the signal beam 412 and the reference beam 410should be nominally (3N/2)(λ/D) and the sampling at the wave frontsensor camera should be 6N×N with optical squeezing implemented. Alsothe 1-D filter should have a width of (Nλ/D) in the direction associatedwith the tilt between the signal beam 412 and the reference beam 410.

A representation of the interference image produced by the combinationof the reference beam 410 and the signal beam 412 is shown by image 445.The fringe pattern shown in image 445 will be modulated in the directionof the tilt between the reference beam 410 and the signal beam 412. Asoftware module operating on a processor associated with the wave frontsensor camera 440 can perform two discrete Fourier transforms (“DFT”) toreconstruct the optical field of the signal beam 412 from theinterference image detected at the wave front sensor camera 440. Alaboratory example of the two discrete Fourier transforms processing isillustrated in FIG. 5 with the processing of interference image 515.Interference image 515 was produced by reflecting the input signal beamoff of a deformable mirror (“DM”) with phase aberration 510 placed onthe deformable mirror. Note that the direction of tilt in FIG. 4 is inthe vertical direction, so that the interference fringes run left-right,while the data shown in FIG. 5 has the tilt in the horizontal direction,so that the interference fringes run up-down. Also note that opticalsqueezing was not implemented for the data taken in FIG. 5. With thefirst discrete Fourier transform 517, the raw image 515 received at thewave front sensor camera 440 is transformed to reveal the spatialfrequency spectrum 520 for the interference fringe pattern. The spatialfrequency spectrum will contain a 0^(th) spectral order component, a+1^(st) spectral order component, and a 1^(st) spectral order component.The +1^(st) spectral order components are produced by the modulation inthe interference fringes due to the tilt between the signal andreference beams. The −1^(st) spectral order component is the complexconjugate of the +1^(st) spectral order component. As depicted in theexemplary illustrations shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the positive 1^(st)order component is cut out of the spectrum and operated on by a seconddiscrete Fourier transform 525. With this second discrete Fouriertransform 525, the amplitude and the phase of the interference image 515are reconstructed.

As described above, if we assume the optimal tilt between the signalbeam 412 and reference beam 410 is implemented, the interference imagewill be contained in a 6N×N pixel region of interest on the wave frontsensor camera 440. The first discrete Fourier transform will produce a6N×N estimate of the spatial frequency spectrum. If we divide this intoN×N blocks (6 of them), the 0^(th) spectral order component will occupythe center two blocks and the ±1^(st) spectral order components willoccupy the blocks to each side of the center two blocks (i.e., the2^(nd) and 5^(th) N×N blocks). To cut out the +1^(st) spectral ordercomponent, simply take the 2^(nd) N×N block. If the 5^(th) N×N block isused instead (i.e., the −1^(st) spectral order component), thereconstructed optical field will be the complex conjugate of the fieldreconstructed with the +1^(st) spectral order component. Therefore,either of the 1^(st) spectral order components can be used in thereconstruction process as long as the result is properly interpreted.

The reconstructed optical field will be an array of complex numbers, A+iB. The phase of the optical field can then be determined using thearctangent function, θ=arctan 2(B,A), and the amplitude of the opticalfield can be determined using the square root function, A=sqrt(A²+B²).The phase calculated by the arctangent function will be in the range−π>θ≧π and may contain 2π phase wrapping if the aberration extendsbeyond that range. The calculated phase can be used in this form with adirect phase control approach to control a deformable mirror, or someother spatial light modulator, and correct the aberrations in the signalbeam. On the other hand. The calculated phase also can be unwrappedusing standard techniques to produce an unwrapped phase estimates whichis then used to control a deformable mirror. In order to speed up thewave front reconstruction processing, the first discrete Fouriertransform calculation can be optimized to only calculate the desired1^(st) spectral order component in the spatial frequency spectrum of theinterference image. The entire spectrum in not required; only theportion needed for the second discrete Fourier transform calculation isneeded. The rest of the spectrum is thrown away and so does not need tobe calculated in the first place. By not calculating the unneededportion of the spatial frequency spectrum, the processing can beperformed faster with less processing latency.

In an alternative processing approach, the signal beam 412 can bereconstructed using a convolution process instead of performing twodiscrete Fourier transforms. This approach allows the processing to beparallelized to a greater extent so that it can execute faster than withthe two discrete Fourier transform process. Convolution processes arewell-known mathematical techniques as described, for example, inGaskill's textbook “Linear Systems, Fourier Transforms, and Optics,” thecontents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety. The wavefront reconstruction process using two discrete Fourier transformsdescribed above can be exactly represented by a convolution, which canbe viewed as a matrix-matrix multiply operation. The convolution processcan also be viewed as an interpolation of the interference pattern,using a complex interpolation matrix (complex meaning A+i B). The idealconvolution matrix is generally infinite in extent but it can beapproximated by a truncated, finite extent matrix with minimal loss inreconstruction accuracy.

The convolution process can be much faster than the discrete Fouriertransform process because the discrete Fourier transform processrequires access to the entire interference image before it can finalizethe calculation of the spatial frequency spectrum. With the discreteFourier transform process, the 1^(st) spectral order cannot be fullycalculated until all the pixels are read out from the wave front sensorcamera and the first discrete Fourier transform is completed. Since the1^(st) spectral order is needed before the second discrete Fouriertransform calculation can begin, the second discrete Fourier transformcalculation must wait. The two discrete Fourier transform process issequential with certain later steps relying on previous steps beingcompleted first. There is some pipelining that can be done with thediscrete Fourier transform process, but then the process begins to lookmore like a convolution calculation.

In contrast, wave front reconstruction using a convolution process canbe approximated quite well as a localized interpolation. For instance,to reconstruct the optical field at a given point in the wave frontsensor image, the processing software can use the 11×1 pixels around thegiven point, or it can be based on pixel formats of 11×3, 23×1, or 23×3as other examples. There are many choices for the size of the localizedregion. The point is that the calculation can be highly localized so theprocessing software only needs to wait for the required pixels to beread out from the wave front sensor camera before calculating the phaseand amplitude at the desired point. With this approach to processing,the wave front reconstruction can occur in parallel with the readout ofthe wave front sensor camera and it can be completed very soon after thelast pixel is read out from the camera. For example, using a 23×3interpolation region, assume the wave front sensor camera readout isoptimally oriented with respect to the fringe orientation. Theprocessing software only needs to wait for the 23rd pixel of the thirdcamera row to be read out before reconstructing the field at the firstpoint. Soon after the 3^(rd) camera row is read out, the processingsoftware can be finished with reconstruction of the 1^(st) row of thereconstructed field. The processing software does not need to wait forthe entire image. Once the 4^(th) camera row is read, the processingsoftware can be finished with the second row of the reconstruction. Bythe time the last pixel is read out from the wave front sensor camera,the reconstruction process will be almost complete with only the lastfew reconstruction points left to be calculated, a process that can becompleted very quickly.

The discrete Fourier transform process and the convolution processdescribed above are merely two examples of methods for reconstructingthe signal beam. Those of skill in the art will recognize that there maybe other methods for reconstructing the signal beam within the scope ofthe invention.

A modification to the tilted self-referencing interferometer 400illustrated in FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 6. As described above, the tiltedself-referencing interferometer 400 requires oversampling of theinterference image to reconstruct the signal beam 412 but theoversampling only needs to be in the direction of the nominal tiltbetween the signal beam 412 and the reference beam 410. Therefore, thesoftware operating in conjunction with the wave front sensor camera 440to reconstruct the signal beam 412 can perform asymmetric sampling alongone axis as shown in FIG. 6 with images 605 and 610. The asymmetricsampling was described in greater detail above in connection with FIG.4.

An examination of the reconstruction process shows that the samplingrequirements of the interference image on the wave front sensor cameraare not uniform. Finer sampling in the direction of the nominal tiltbetween the signal beam and the reference beam is needed in order toproperly resolve the interference fringes but the sampling requirementin the orthogonal direction is not as high. Therefore, it is possible todemagnify, or squeeze, the image in this other direction to reduce thesize of the camera readout and increase the frame rate of the wave frontsensor camera. Analysis indicates squeezing causes a small reduction inWFS performance relative to using finer sampling in both directions(typically 1-2% degradation in the wave front sensor estimate Strehl).However, from an adaptive optics systems standpoint, the degradationfrom squeezing is easily traded for the resulting increase in adaptiveoptics closed-loop correction bandwidth, particularly for high-speedturbulence applications.

Squeezing of the WFS image can be accomplished optically with ananamorphic cylindrical lens relay as depicted in FIG. 6 or it can beaccomplished with a combination of cylindrical lenses and anamorphicprisms. It is also possible to affect the reduced resolution by binningcamera pixels in one dimension. However, in order to realize the speedimprovement and minimize readout noise, the binning would have to bedone in the focal plane array readout circuitry before A/D conversion(i.e., on-chip binning) Since on-chip binning is not a common feature ofmost cameras, we propose to implement optical squeezing of the wavefront sensor image. As such, an anamorphic crossed cylindrical-lensrelay 615 is included in the wave front sensor designs shown in FIGS. 7and 8. In the adaptive optics system depicted in FIG. 8, the anamorphicrelay is used to differentially magnify the two axes of the image of thedeformable mirror surface and properly relay the image of the deformablemirror surface onto the wave front sensor camera 440 plane.

Referring to FIG. 7, an exemplary tilted self-referencing interferometer700 is illustrated. The tilted self-referencing interferometer 700combines the advantages of the fiber shunt, simplified spatial phaseshifter, and optical squeezing to provide a simpler, smaller and lighterinterferometer that can process an input beam regardless of itspolarization. The exemplary tilted self-referencing interferometer 700in FIG. 7 shows an input beam 705 passing through a pair of lenses 706and 708 on either side of a 1-D spatial filter 707. As explained abovein connection with FIG. 4 and as further described below in connectionwith FIG. 8, the 1-D spatial filter 707 ensures that the 0^(th) and1^(st) spectral order components of the interference pattern do notoverlap.

After exiting the lenses 706 and 708 and the 1-D spatial filter 707, theinput beam 705 is split at beam splitter 710 into a reference beam 720and a signal beam 724. The signal beam 724 is reflected by mirror 712and is transmitted along signal path 725. The reference beam 720 isspatially filtered by fiber shunt 722 and transmitted along referencepath 721. As illustrated in the embodiment in FIG. 7, conventionalaspheric lenses are located at each end of the fiber shunt 722. Afterthe reference beam passes through the fiber shunt 722, it will be aclean, spherical wave front that can be used for comparison against thesignal beam 724 to determine the aberrations in the signal beam 724.

The reference beam 720 also passes through a path matching prism 727 sothat the reference beam 720 and the signal beam 724 travel an equivalentoptical path within interferometer 700. The path matching prism must beplaced in either the signal path or the reference path, whichever hasthe shorter optical path length when the path matching prism is notincluded. The path matching prism 727 is used to increase the opticalpath length of the shorter path to match the other path. Positioning thepath matching prism in one path or the other depends upon theconfiguration of the components in the interferometer. The path matchingprism can also be tipped or tilted in order to align the associated beamon the wave front sensor camera 760. Those of skill in the art willrecognize that the orientation of the reference path 721 and signal path725 can be interchanged and that in other embodiments the orientation ofother components shown in exemplary FIG. 7 can also be modified withinthe scope of the invention.

In one exemplary implementation, the reference beam 720 and the signalbeam 724 are focused by a pair of lenses 730 and reflected by a pair ofmirrors 732 onto combining prism 735. The combining prism 735 is locatedat or near the focal plane of lenses 730 and lenses 730 are positionedso their nominal focal planes occur at a common optical plane relativeto lens 736. After reflection from the combining prism 735, thereference beam 720 and the signal beam 724 are recollimated by lens 736.The combining prism 735 and the lens 736 recombine the reference beam720 and the signal beam 724 so that they produce an interference imageat the wave front sensor camera 760. In alternate embodiments of theinvention, different arrangements of prisms, lenses, and mirrors can beused to recombine the reference beam 720 and signal beam 724. Usinglenses 730, mirrors 732, combining prism 735, and lens 736, thereference beam 720 and the signal beam 724 are recombined with arelative tilt between the two beams before they are recombined at thewave front sensor camera 760. The magnitude of the relative tilt can becontrolled by adjusting the relative separation of the two focal spotson the combining prism 735. The relative separation can be controlled bylinearly translating the combining prism to the left or right in theconfiguration shown in FIG. 7. Tilting the two beams relative to eachother permits a simpler spatial phase shifting approach with thedifferent phase shifts interleaved within the fringe pattern produced bythe two beams as described above. Tilting of the two beams eliminatesthe need for creating four separate interference patterns produced byfour combined beam pairs as illustrated and described in connection withFIG. 2.

The recombined beams are transmitted through anamorphic optical relay745. The anamorphic optical relay 745 squeezes, or differentiallymagnifies, the two axes of the wave front sensor image as illustrated inFIG. 6. As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6, the image is squeezed along anaxis that is parallel to the axis in which the reference beam and thesignal beam lie before they are recombined. The squeezed image, such asimage 610 in FIG. 6, permits the wave front sensor 760 to oversample theimage along the long axis while minimizing the size of the camerareadout in the other axis so the camera frame rate can be maximized.

Once the recombined beam exits the anamorphic relay 745, it is receivedat the wave front sensor camera 760. The wave front sensor includes aconventional computing device (not shown) with software configured toanalyze the interference pattern produced by the recombined beams. Thesoftware can employ any one of a variety of mathematical techniques foranalyzing the interference pattern including discrete Fourier transformsor a convolution process as described above. The processing softwareinstalled on the wave front sensor processor can identify aberrations inthe signal beam 720 and send commands to a spatial light modulator tocorrect those aberrations.

Referring to FIG. 8, an exemplary laser communication system 800 isillustrated. Exemplary laser communication system 800 includes anadaptive optics system based on the exemplary interferometer 700described and illustrated in FIG. 7. The reference numbers of thecomponents in FIG. 7 correspond to the same reference numbers for thesame components of the interferometer in FIG. 8.

In exemplary laser communication system 800, an output beam istransmitted from transmit/receive (“Tx/Rx”) fiber 835. The output beamis reflected by dichroic beam splitter 850 and reflected off deformablemirror 815 and steering mirror (“SM”) 810 before being transmitted outof the telescope 805 to the laser communications terminal on theopposite end of the communications link. The dichroic beam splitter 850permits a small portion of the output beam to pass through for detectionby the detector 845, which can be used to monitor the power of theoutput beam. The deformable mirror 815 can be used to modify the outputbeam to pre-compensate for expected aberrations in the beam as it istransmitted from the telescope 805 to the terminal at the other end ofthe communications link.

Concurrently an input beam is received at telescope 805. Acquisitioncamera 807 assists in orienting the telescope 805 so it is pointed atthe terminal at the opposite end of the communications link and cantransmit and receive laser communication beams to and from thatterminal. The input beam is transmitted by the telescope 805 to thesteering mirror 810. Steering mirror 810 is controlled by positionsensing detector 855. The position of the steering mirror 810 can beadjusted to co-align the paths of the output beam and the input beam. Asillustrated in exemplary embodiment 800, the input beam can betransmitted through one or more lenses and is reflected by deformablemirror 815. The surface of deformable mirror 815 can be adjusted tocorrect the aberrations in the input beam. As indicated above, adjustingthe deformable mirror to correct the aberrations in the received inputbeam also pre-compensates the transmitted output beam. For example, thedeformable mirror 815 can be controlled by the computing device (notshown) that operates with the wave front sensor camera 760. When thewave front sensor identifies aberrations in the input beam, thecomputing device can control the deformable mirror 815 to correct forthe aberrations. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that thepositions of the steering mirror 810 and the deformable mirror 815 aremerely one example architecture. In other embodiments of the invention,the positions of the deformable mirror and the steering mirror may bealtered or the two components could be combined into a single component.Furthermore, the deformable mirror 815 could be replaced with otherspatial light modulating devices such as a liquid crystal device and thesteering mirror could be replaced with other beam steering devices suchas Risley prisms.

The corrected input beam is then transmitted through lens 706, 1-Dspatial filter 707, and lens 708. As explained above, a discrete Fouriertransform is used to calculate the spatial frequency spectrum of thewave front sensor image. The spectrum contains a 0^(th) order componentand the two 1^(st) order components as shown in the examplereconstruction in FIG. 5. The tilt between the signal and referencebeams is set so that the 1^(st) order component is sufficientlyseparated from the 0^(th) order component. However, there areconstraints on how much tilt should be used and, because of the finitereceive aperture of the telescope 805, it is possible for the 0^(th) and1^(st) order components to overlap and for part of the 0^(th) order tofall in the region that is cutout and used with the second discreteFourier transform to reconstruct the residual wave front of the inputbeam. To mitigate this problem, the one-dimensional spatial filter 707can be used on the input beam to ensure that the 0^(th) and 1^(st) ordercomponents in the Fourier spectrum do not overlap. The size of thefilter depends on the desired tilt between the signal and referencebeams within the wave front sensor which, in turn, depends on the numberof actuators across the deformable mirror 815. The number of actuatorsdetermines the spatial frequencies in the aberrations of the input beamwhich can be corrected by the deformable mirror 815. Blocking out thehigher spatial frequencies will not impact lasercom performance, sincethose frequencies will not couple into the receive fiber, but it willcreate a clean separation of the 0^(th) and 1^(st) order components inthe spatial frequency spectrum and, thereby, improve wave frontreconstruction accuracy. Those of skill in the art will recognize thatthe 1-D spatial filter 707 can be implemented in several different waysand at several places in the system 800.

After the input beam exits lens 708, it is transmitted to the dichroicbeam splitter 850. The action of the dichroic beam splitter 850, how ittransmits and reflects beams, depends on wavelength. As mentioned above,the beam splitter 850 reflects the majority of the output beamtransmitted by the transmit/receive fiber 835 so that it can be directedout of the telescope 805. In contrast, due to the different wavelengthof the input beam, a portion of the input beam is reflected to thetransmit/receive fiber 835 and a portion of the input beam passesthrough the beam splitter 850 to the tilted self-referencinginterferometer wave front sensor. The reflected portion of the inputbeam is transmitted along transmit/receive fiber 835 to communicationequipment, not shown in FIG. 8, for decoding in accordance with thecommunication application.

The portion of the input beam that passes through the beam splitter 850is the input beam 705 described in FIG. 7 and the text associated withFIG. 7. The interferometer can continuously analyze the input beam foraberrations and the wave front sensor processor can control thedeformable mirror 815 as needed to correct the aberrations in the inputbeam. The deformable mirror 815 also modifies the output beam asdescribed above to pre-compensate for aberrations the output beam islikely to encounter as it is transmitted to the laser communicationsterminal at the other end of the communications link.

The wave front sensor camera 760 includes or can be coupled to acomputing device running software that includes a reconstructionalgorithm for reconstructing the signal beam. As described above, thereconstruction can be implemented using a two discrete Fourier transformprocess or a simpler convolution process, both of which are analyticprocesses. With proper sampling of the image at the wave front sensorcamera 760, all the correctable spatial frequency content in the wavefront aberrations can be measured. Therefore, by applying the shiftingproperty of the Fourier transform, the discrete Fourier transform orconvolution coefficients can be adjusted to reconstruct the signal wavefront accurately at different locations in the wave front sensor cameraplane. As such, the reconstruction algorithm allows software correctionof small levels of misregistration between the deformable mirror 815 andthe plane of the wave front sensor camera 760. By modulating a smallnumber of deformable mirror actuators a small amplitude at a frequencysomewhat greater than the correction bandwidth of the adaptive opticssystem, the registration of the deformable mirror 815 to the wave frontsensor camera 760 can be monitored. The modulation of the actuatorswould be large enough to be measurable but small enough so that it doesnot noticeably impact system performance. If a misregistration isdetermined, the reconstruction coefficients can be updated to correctit. Being able to correct for misregistrations in the processingsoftware simplifies the adaptive optics system design, allows theoptical fabrication and alignment tolerances to be relaxed, makes thesystem easier to design and fabricate, and improves ruggedness foroperation in real-world environments.

It will be appreciated that the system 800 illustrated in FIG. 8 ismerely exemplary and a similar system can be implemented in a variety ofdifferent ways with components in different positions and orientations.Furthermore, not all of the components illustrated in FIG. 8 ordescribed above are required to be used with the self-referencinginterferometer. For example, the 1-D spatial filter 707 and the pathmatching prism 727 may not be required depending on the application.Similarly, as an alternative to the anamorphic relay 745 using crossedcylindrical relays as shown in FIG. 8, the interferometer can useuniform sampling.

Those of skill in the art will recognize that laser communication system800 is merely an example of one implementation of the inventiondescribed herein. For example, in other embodiments of a lasercommunication system, the improved interferometer described inconnection with FIGS. 2 and 3 can be used instead of exemplaryinterferometer 700. Similarly, the arrangement of the components in theimproved interferometers can be changed within the scope of theinvention. For example, the various conventional components such aslenses and mirrors can be substituted for equivalent components orequivalent arrangements of components. As another example, the fibershunt which improves the interferometer by reducing the size andcomplexity of the interferometer is not required in each embodiment ofthe improved interferometer described herein. Instead of the fiber shuntdescribed above, a conventional single mode fiber or a plate with a pinhole filter can be used.

The embodiments set forth herein are intended to be exemplary. From thedescription of the exemplary embodiments, equivalents of the elementsshown herein and ways of constructing other embodiments of the inventionwill be apparent to practitioners of the art. For example, the methodsfor processing a reference beam and a signal beam by one of the improvedinterferometers described herein may be modified but remain within thescope of the invention. Similarly, the arrangement of the components inthe different exemplary improved interferometers described herein can bemodified but remain within the scope of the invention. Moreover, theimprovements to interferometers described herein can be used in otherapplications beyond laser communications such as directed energyapplications or various types of optical testing and measuring. Manyother modifications, features and embodiments of the invention willbecome evident to those of skill in the art. It should be appreciated,therefore, that many aspects of the invention were described above byway of example only and are not intended as required or essentialelements of the invention unless explicitly stated otherwise.Accordingly, it should be understood that the foregoing relates only tocertain embodiments of the invention and that numerous changes can bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

I claim:
 1. A method for processing an input beam in an interferometercomprising the steps of: receiving at the interferometer the input beam;splitting with a beam splitter the input beam into a reference beam anda signal beam; transmitting the reference beam through a single modefiber to reduce aberrations in the reference beam; recombining thereference beam and the signal beam by transmitting the reference beamand the signal beam through a combining prism; modifying the recombinedreference beam and signal beam by transmitting the recombined referencebeam and signal beam through an anamorphic optical relay; and receivingthe recombined reference beam and signal beam at a wave front sensorcamera.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofreconstructing the signal beam with a software module operating on acomputing device coupled to the wave front sensor, wherein the softwaremodule performs two discrete Fourier transformation processes on therecombined reference beam and signal beam.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising the step of reconstructing the signal beam with asoftware module operating on a computing device coupled to the wavefront sensor, wherein the software module performs a convolution processon the recombined reference beam and signal beam.
 4. The method of claim1, further comprising the step of transmitting the reference beamthrough a path matching prism.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thesingle mode fiber for reducing aberrations in the reference beam is asingle mode fiber shunt.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofrecombining the reference beam and the signal beam is performed suchthat the reference beam is at a predefined angle to the signal beam,wherein the predefined angle is greater than 0 degrees and less than 180degrees.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wave front sensorasymmetrically samples the interference pattern formed by the recombinedreference beam and signal beam such that the wave front sensor samplesmore data from the recombined reference beam and signal beam along anaxis that is parallel to the axis in which the reference beam and thesignal beam both lie before they are recombined.
 8. An interferometercomprising: a beam splitter for receiving an input beam and splittingthe input beam into a reference beam and a signal beam; a single modefiber for receiving the reference beam from the beam splitter and forspatially filtering the reference beam to reduce aberrations in thereference beam; a combining prism for recombining the reference beam,after being filtered by the single mode fiber, with the signal beam; ananamorphic relay for modifying the recombined reference beam and signalbeam; a wave front sensor camera for receiving the modified recombinedreference beam and signal beam from the anamorphic relay, fordetermining the aberrations in the signal beam and for correcting theaberrations in the signal beam using a deformable mirror.
 9. Theinterferometer of claim 8, further comprising a path matching prism forreceiving the filtered reference beam from the fiber shunt.
 10. Theinterferometer of claim 8, further comprising a software moduleoperating on a computing device coupled to the wave front sensor, thesoftware module configured to perform two discrete Fouriertransformation processes on the recombined reference beam and signalbeam.
 11. The interferometer of claim 8, further comprising a softwaremodule operating on a computing device coupled to the wave front sensor,the software module configured to perform a convolution process on therecombined reference beam and signal beam.
 12. The interferometer ofclaim 8, wherein the single mode fiber for filtering the reference beamis a single mode fiber shunt.
 13. The interferometer of claim 8, whereinthe combining prism receives the reference beam and the signal beam suchthat there is an angle between the reference beam and the signal beam,the angle being greater than 0 degrees and less than 180 degrees. 14.The interferometer of claim 8, wherein the wave front sensorasymmetrically samples the interference pattern formed by the recombinedreference beam and signal beam such that the wave front sensor samplesmore data from the recombined reference beam and signal beam along anaxis that is parallel to the axis in which the reference beam and thesignal beam both lie before they are recombined.